Local biologist sentenced to 10 months in prison

A local biologist was sentenced by a federal judge to 10 months in prison for his part in a scheme to embezzle $1 million from the Yurok Tribe, using false invoices for wildlife studies on the northern spotted owl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco.

Mad River Biologists founder and well-known wildlife photographer Ron LeValley pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy charge in the federal district court in San Francisco in February. The plea agreement has not been made public.

According to court documents, he admitted taking part in an elaborate conspiracy using fake invoices, false purchase requests and electronic bank transfers to embezzle more than $870,000 in federal funds from the Yurok Tribe over several years.

"This work was critical," a sentencing statement submitted to the court by the U.S. Attorney's Office states. "Timber harvests are a major revenue source for the Tribe, and the assessments were a prerequisite to those harvests, designed to gauge the impact timber clearing would have on Northern California's endangered bird species."

The sentencing statement notes LeValley was cooperative with the federal investigation, recommending a one-year sentence, but also states the defendant "has not suffered meaningful injury or incurred danger or risk of injury through his cooperation."

"If anything, cooperating has helped repair his damaged reputation," the document states. "Still, LeValley's assistance was timely and useful from the government's perspective."

His alleged co-conspirator, former Yurok forestry director Roland Raymond, was sentenced to three years in prison in January.

LeValley was also sentenced to three years supervised release and held jointly liable for paying $850,000 in restitution to the tribe with Raymond. In addition, he was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and give speeches about his crime to 200 people.

Attempts to contact the Yurok Tribe for comment regarding the sentencing were unsuccessful.